Should I Record in 44.1kHz or 48kHz?

By Jesse NeoMay 27th, 2018

Are you one those music artists, who would want to know whether to record in 44.1kH or 48kHz? The answer to this question is simple.

When you are recording for a DVD, use the multiples of 48 kHz, and when you are recording for a CD, use the multiples of 44.1 kHz. It's as simple as that. But wait, you ought to learn more about the facts related to this process.

But what are 44.1kHz and46kHz?

44.1kHz and46kHz are recording rates or audio sampling rates, when recording your music to a DVD or CD.

What are sampling rates?

A sampling rate is also known as a sampling frequency, and as the term implies it indicates the mean number of samples obtained within a second.

In audio sampling, there can be a digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) or the analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), which can be used to store and transmit the audios.

Facts You Should Know about 44.1kHz and 48kHz

The difference between 44.1kHz and48kHz is insignificant.

For people who are not well acquainted with the technical aspects of music production, they would not know whether it's 44.1kHz or 48kHz. A trained person will notice the difference in the record rate immediately.

A few artists reportedly use 44.1kHz, when recording their live performances.

If you are not sure of other rates, then you may want to try recording your live performances at 44.1kHz and at 48 kHz. Through this method, you can choose which among the two would be able to reproduce your music sounds the way you want them to sound.

A few artists reportedly use 88.2, when they convert

If you have plans of converting, you may want to use 88.2 kHz because a few artists have tried this method and it worked more easily for them. This is because at 88.2 kHz, many pro-converters can provide the ideal frequency response.

Some have recorded at 88.2 kHz and downsized to 44.1 kHz

There were a few artists who have recommended recording at 88. And then downsizing using 44.1kHz. Apparently, the process had successful results for them. Nevertheless upsizing from 44.1 kHz may not produce excellent results.

Slightly bigger files is one Advantage of 48 kHz

This is one advantage of 48 kHz over the 44.1 kHz. To experts, they can notice the minor degradation of the sound when using 44.1 kHz. However, to ordinary listeners, the difference can be imperceptible.

Of course, these are all experiences of users and there are no extensive studies to prove these claims. But, you can learn from them anyhow. You can use these experiences as bases for your own experiments. You will have to do your own experiments and observe what works best for you.

You have to be bold enough to discover which one would work with your preferences. When doing this, be sure to record your findings for other musicians to refer to later on.

Pointers in recording using the 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz

When in doubt, use the higher sampling rate to prevent aliasing from occurring. Aliasing occurs when different signals cannot be distinguished. This is the distortion of the original audio to produce something different. You can avoid this by using anti-aliasing filters.

According to the Audio Engineering Society, for transmission-related applications, the 32 kHz is recommended for anti-aliasing filtering; for higher bandwidths - 96kHz; its most recommended sampling rates for most applications is 48 kHz. However, it recommends for Compact Discs (CDs) - 44.1 kHz, just as many users do.

48 kHz is used by many professionals in digital recording devices and mixing consoles. At this sampling rate, you could reconstruct frequencies up to 22 kHz. Musicians can work with many frames as well, when using 48 kHz.

The 48 kHz is the standard sampling rate used by most equipment. You can record using vision mixers, tape recorders and videos. It's also good for films and videos.

When you have a 44.1 kHz/16 bit, you may not be able to improve the video by converting it to something higher. What's in the original audio will remain as is.

When you use the higher sampling rate, which is 48 kHz, aliasing is less likely to happen.

These sampling rates rely on the Nyquist theorem to digitalized analog signals properly. This principle postulates that for the original analog audio to be reproduced with high quality, signals or analog wave forms must be taken frequently. This means that the sampling rate must be two times higher than the highest analog frequency.

In cases when the Nyquist principle is not followed, there may be certain sounds or signals not included in the digitalized form. This can cause the reduction in quality of the audio.

When converting this audio back to the analog form, distortion may occur because of frequencies that could appear.

Aside from aliasing, there are various types of distortions that can occur when doing analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), or digital-to-analog conversion (DAC), such as noise, slew rate and so forth.

Noise can come from the noise caused by the analog circuit and similar noises, while slew rate is caused by the slow input value of the analog-to-digital conversion (ADC).

To minimize noise interference, you can use our backing tracks and find the best instrumentals for your song - without compromising the quality of your music.

Conclusion

Musicians choose between 44.1 and 48 kHz because it's believed that the sample rate conversion of audio files can cause errors. What many musicians discovered, as previously mentioned, is to use 44.1 kHz, if you plan to create an audio or CD file, and to go with 48 kHz, if you plan to create a DVD video file.

Don't worry. In cases, when you cannot understand the technical aspect of the recording of your songs, you can always enlist the help of an expert, such as music or sound engineers. In the recording industry, there are many of them.

Obviously, you are encouraged to learn these sampling rates, so you can understand better why you have to use specific rates for certain audios and videos. As an artists, there's always room for improvement.

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